The congressional supercommittee’s failure to reach an agreement on long-term deficit reduction could have a significant impact on regional aerospace industries in coming years, including the possible loss of thousands of jobs.

The 12-member group’s inability to find a compromise on budget cuts, revenue increases or both to slash $1.2 trillion in federal debt by Monday’s deadline automatically triggers up to $600 billion in mandatory national defense cuts during the next decade.

That may bode poorly for the roughly 20,000 Boeing employees involved in C-17 Globemaster production, satellite research and development, radar engineering and production, surveillance systems, and other defense-related work at local sites.

The aerospace giant’s Space and Intelligence System is headquartered in Seal Beach and employs more than 1,000 people, while about 6,000 are employed in Long Beach, mostly in production, design and marketing of the popular C-17 jet.

As part of the congressional committee’s creation in August, a fallback, or “trigger mechanism,” was established calling for at least $1.2 trillion in federal budget cuts during the next 10 years if the group didn’t reach an agreement by Nov. 21.

About half of that would come from defense budgets and the rest from domestic programs.

The Aerospace Industries Association estimates the cuts could lead to 125,000 aerospace job losses across California, among parts suppliers, designers and manufacturers.

“The Defense Department will need to start applying cuts to the fiscal year 2013 budget immediately and job losses will increase as the Pentagon is forced to halt work (if the plan moves forward),” said AIA President Marion C. Blakey. “AIA will continue to make sure that the impacts to our nation, economy and industry are well understood by all Americans.”

The potential reductions come in the wake of roughly 1,000 Boeing layoffs in the Los Angeles area since 2010, including several hundred in Long Beach and Seal Beach.

The company announced in 2010 it was cutting more than 10,000 positions from its Defense, Space and Security Division by early that year.

In the days since the committee said it couldn’t reach consensus, Boeing announced it will begin reviewing possible plant closures. A 2,000-employee Wichita, Kansas, plant where military and government planes and jets are upgraded and maintained has been named as possibly being among the first to shutter.

“At this point it is too early for us to speculate on what deep defense budget cuts might mean for individual programs or the facilities that support them,” said Boeing spokeswoman Paula Shawa. “We must wait and see where the DOD decides to make cuts. Having said that, we have been anticipating declining U.S. defense budgets for several years and have been making the changes necessary to compete and grow in this environment.”

Shawa said Boeing has “made assumptions including the worst-case scenario and designing our cost structure to accommodate a $1 trillion cut (internationally).”

“The failure of the Super Committee to reach a compromise strikes another devastating blow at American men and women struggling to find jobs,” Richardson said in a statement. “Unemployment still hovers around 20 percent in some parts of my district.”

Professor Stephen S. Fuller, an economist with George Mason University, said upgrades to existing military hardware and equipment may be most impacted.

Boeing conducts research and development on satellites, drones, missiles, radar, jets and other high-value equipment at sites around Southern California.

Fuller said that while no specific programs or sites have been named yet by the Pentagon, the potential spending cuts have left suppliers and subcontractors uncertain of their future.

“The defense industry has a notably high rate of subcontracted work flow and systems with high component volumes, driving job loss directly to program partners and the supply chain,” Fuller said. “The multiplied impact of aerospace and defense workers losing their job is very simple. Purchase of consumer goods goes down overnight, homes become unaffordable and the housing crisis is compounded, and so forth. The 10-year defense budget cut will be felt in terms of layoffs starting in 2012, escalate and conclude by 2014.”

But the reductions aren’t yet set in stone.

President Barack Obama and Congress can reverse the planned “trigger” cuts if they reach an agreement before adopting a 2013 budget, either later this year or by mid-2012.

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